Chuck vs the Space Cannibals
by Wepdiggy
Summary: Something is amiss at an NSA facility, and TeamB is sent to investigate. Who are these monsters that are killing people, and will anyone be able to come to their aid? Chuck/Firefly Xover. Post The Ring and Post BDM. My Halloween Fic. R&R. Thanks!
1. Who Are These People

_Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or Firefly. Wow, when I've said I don't own something besides Chuck in the past, it's usually been a throwaway comment. This time it actually has meaning…huh. _

_A/N: Okay, this fic will serve two purposes. (1) It will be my fic to celebrate Halloween 2009. I wanted to do one, and this was the best I could come up with. (2) It will serve to allow me to finally stretch my wings beyond just the "Chuck" fandom. Hopefully it's not a disaster._

_For those of you that don't know me, good. You don't have any preconceived notions as to where this will go, haha. But no, seriously, this should be a lot of fun to read, I hope. I love Halloween (favorite holiday), and I'd hate to think that I'm giving you crap in celebration. _

_This all happens past "Chuck vs. the Ring" and Post-BDM in the Firefly/Serenity world. I will tell you that I'm going to try to update this once daily, with shorter chapters, as opposed to longer updates that are less frequent. Let me know what you think of that format. And this was originally going to be very short, and done by Saturday (it is a Halloween fic), but as I've talked about it with some folks I trust, I've come to realize this story doesn't deserve to be rushed. _

_Also, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to __**MXPW**__, and __**Verkisto**__. Both of them are fantastic authors in their own right, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't check out their work. And I'm honestly not just saying that because this chapter couldn't have been done without them…although that's true as well. Okay, I'll quit bugging you now, and let you read. I look forward to your feedback, and thanks for reading!

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**Chapter 1: Who Are These People?**

**Roswell, New Mexico  
October 31, 2009**

Three teams of NSA investigators had been sent to check on the disturbance at the secret NSA facility in Roswell, and none of them had reported back. The last report from the site had detailed the landing of a strange aircraft and, after that, communication had been broken. The best guess anyone had as to the identity of the intruders was The Ring.

That's why Team Bartowski had been sent to check on things. That facility was too important to lose to the enemy organization, and the Intersect team was really the only group that had any record of success against The Ring. So Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and a special ops team loaded up the SUVs and set out for the top-secret base prepared for another day at the office.

Infiltrate enemy territory, kill some baddies, and arrest a few to make sure you had someone to question. It was all getting so mundane. Chuck kind of wished, just once, that things would be different.

Be careful what you wish for, Chuck.

When Team Bartowski and their special ops team entered the facility, the halls were eerily quiet. If there hadn't been blood sprayed all over the walls, there would be no sign that anything had happened there at all. But there was blood. Oh, and there was also some strange aircraft with a horrible red-and-metallic paint job (Seriously, whoever owned that thing needed to get their money back.) parked just outside.

Then a drop of something wet and sticky spattered on Chuck's nose. He wiped it off quickly, inspecting it under the eerie beam of a flashlight. Yep, it was blood. Where had that come from? To find out, he made the mistake of looking up.

Ten bodies, roped together and stripped of their clothes and skin, hung from the ceiling. Chuck screamed. Yeah, he knew he sounded like a little girl, but he didn't care.

"Can it, Bartowski," growled Casey.

Sarah chipped in, a little more comfortingly. "Casey's right, Chuck, we need to be quiet. But what is it?"

Chuck merely pointed towards the bodies. The agents froze in their tracks. Even with all of their collective years in the service of their country, neither Casey nor Sarah had ever seen anything like that. They avoided a reaction similar to Chuck's, but only because of years of training and experience.

That's when they heard footsteps. And whoever those footsteps belonged to wasn't moving slowly.

The entire group, Chuck, Casey, Sarah, and the support agents, began to make their way to the exit, with haste. They were cut off at the first corner by the most horrifying looking person (was it a person?) any of them had ever seen. The man (for lack of a better word) was hideously disfigured, his face no longer resembling anything human. He stood as tall as Casey, and reeked of God knows what. The beast reached for Sarah, but she managed to evade his grasp and continue running.

The group rounded a corner into another long hallway. Chuck hazarded a quick look over his shoulder and was dismayed when he saw that more of the beasts were following them now and had almost closed the small remaining gap. When Chuck looked to the front again, he put on a little burst of speed, catching up with Casey and Sarah once more and matching them stride for stride. Suddenly, one horrified scream and then two more came to Chuck's ears as the creatures began to capture the trailing special ops agents one-by-one.

Not willing to turn around and look, Chuck wasn't able to tell just what these animals were doing to those that they captured, but if the blood-curdling screams that he heard each one voice were any indication, it wasn't very pleasant.

Finally, realizing they needed somewhere to hide so that they could regroup, Team Bartowski ducked into the next room they came upon. Slamming and locking the solid steel door behind them, they were finally able to catch their breath.

"That ain't The Ring!" Casey said through ragged gasps.

"Ya think?" Sarah asked, annoyed. "Chuck, did you flash?"

"Umm…yeah," he answered.

"Well?"

"Oh, you mean on those monsters? No, no I didn't flash on them. I flashed on Carl Lewis."

"Carl Lewis?" Sarah asked.

"Olympic sprinter?"

Sarah looked at him dumbly.

"The Intersect made me run fast," he explained.

"Ah, right," Sarah nodded. "So what now?"

"Well, this is a communications room…"

"Lines have been cut, moron," Casey reminded him.

"Remember who you're dealing with, Colonel," Chuck said cockily.

"I did," was Casey's flat reply. "My comment still stands."

Chuck ignored the quip from his NSA handler…or was it partner? Whenever he tried to get Casey to make the distinction for him, he only received a growl. For now, he would stick with handler. It just seemed safer.

The nerd made his way over to the main communications console and, pulling a USB cable from his pocket (because, he's Chuck, of course he would have one on him), he connected his wrist computer to the previously dead console, bringing it to life.

"Hello out there," Chuck said into the microphone. "Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?" Nothing. "Well, if anyone's listening, we've been attacked by these big, scary monster things that seem to skin people alive and possibly eat them. Personally, I think they're zombies, but Casey thinks—"

"They ain't zombies, kid," said a voice through the speakers of the console.

"Oh, hi there!" Chuck said.

Casey growled. "Move out the way, idiot. This is Colonel John Casey, United States Marine Corps. What intel can you provide me on the enemy?"

"I suggest you keep your ass away from them," was the simple reply.

"I'm sorry. Repeat instructions?"

"I said stay the hell away. They'll kill ya, and that's the good part."

"Who is this?" Casey asked.

"Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly class Serenity. And those things after ya'll? They're called Reavers, and they ain't lookin' for a tea party."

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_A/N: Okay, for my first trip outside of "Chuck" (and it was a small one so far, but it gets deeper as we move along), what did you think? You can be honest. My Prozac helps me get through the tough times. I look forward to reading your reviews, and you guys are awesome. Peace. _


	2. Fear the Reaver

_Disclaimer: Still don't own Chuck or Firefly._

_A/N: Once again, a great deal of thanks to the incomparable __**Verkisto**__ for her superb input on this chapter. This is, again, my first attempt to write Firefly and its characters, so she's been very much needed. On top of that, she's helped me with my idiocy, lol. Okay, I want bore you with a super long A/N this time. I'll let you read. Thank you for reading, and please review. Thanks!

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**Chapter 2: Fear the Reaver**

**Onboard Serenity  
October 31, 2009**

It had been nearly a day since the crew of Serenity experienced their strange trip at the Edge. One minute, they'd been trying to avoid Reavers, the next they'd been pulled into some kind of strange force field. Everything on the ship had gone black, and despite the efforts of the Captain and the psychic co-pilot, all control of the ship was lost. They'd spun around in circles, and everything not strapped down — and most things that were — had been tossed all over the ship.

When everything had calmed, they found themselves just beyond the atmosphere of a strange blue planet that no one had ever seen before. All attempts to identify it had been unsuccessful. Hell, all attempts to connect to the Cortex in general had been unsuccessful.

Fortunately, whatever had pulled them to wherever the blue blazes they were had only taken one ship of Reavers with them. The monsters had landed hours ago on the foreign Rock and had yet to emerge.

For now, they were safe, but the crew knew that wouldn't last.

Whatever the trip was that they'd been on had sapped most of the ship's fuel reserves, and they were running on fumes. So far, they'd been able to avoid trying to make radio contact with those below, but they didn't know how long that would last. Eventually, they would need to land.

Then, somehow, someone on the ground below had pinged Serenity's communications.

"Well, if anyone's listening, we've been attacked by these big, scary monster things that seem to skin people alive and possibly eat them. Personally, I think they're zombies, but Casey thinks—"

"Ai-yah. Tyen-ah…" Mal cursed under his breath. Whoever the poor hapless sonofabitch was that he was talking to was trapped in a building with Reavers. What do you tell a man who's about to die?

"They ain't zombies, kid."

"Oh, hi there!" was the man's enthusiastic reply. Didn't that fool know what peril he was in?

Then another voice came through the speakers.

"This is Colonel John Casey, United States Marine Corps. What intel can you provide me on the enemy?"

United States? What the ruttin' hell?

"I suggest you keep your ass away from them."

"I'm sorry. Repeat instructions?" asked the Marine, who sounded suspiciously like a spiffied up Jayne.

"I said stay the hell away. They'll kill ya, and that's the good part."

"Who is this?" the man asked.

"Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly class Serenity. And those things after ya'll? They're called Reavers, and they ain't lookin' for a tea party," Mal explained.

"Reavers? What the hell is a Reaver? And where did they come from?"

Mal paused, unsure exactly what to tell the man, unsure what even needed to be said. Did it actually matter if these poor souls knew what was after them? Could anything really help them? Well, there was always…

"You feelin' up to a repeat performance, little one?" Mal asked, turning to his co-pilot.

River shrugged, tucking her knees under her chin nonchalantly and looking for all the 'verse nothing like the killer she was capable of being.

"Well, can you do it or not? 'Cause there's some folks down there need your help something fierce."

"Humans are often their own harshest critics. Asking someone to evaluate their own ability to perform a task is rarely the best way to gauge their abilities," River answered. She paused for a moment, a small grin turning up the corners of her mouth, then added, "Unless they're cocky."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes," River finally said.

Mal turned back to the communications console.

"Colonel, help is on the way."

The next part, he didn't want to have to say, but the people on the ground deserved to know. No one deserved to feel the full brunt of what Reavers were capable of.

"But if they get to ya before we do…there's things worse than death," he finished.

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**Inside the base  
October 31, 2009**

"What do you think he meant by that?" Chuck asked quizzically.

Casey and Sarah shared a grim look. They both knew exactly what this mystery captain had meant. If it came down to it, it would be pointless to try to fight back. Death would be inevitable at the hands of the monsters that were just outside the door. The only question would be how much pain they would have to suffer before that death came.

"Casey, will you?" Sarah asked, nodding towards Chuck.

"Don't have the stomach for it, Walker?" Casey asked gruffly, teasingly. It was the type of gallows humor only John Casey was capable of.

"You know I —"

"I'll take care of it," Casey said tersely.

"Thank you, Casey."

"Wait, did I just miss something?" Chuck asked. "What are you taking care of?"

Casey merely grunted in reply.

After the communication ended, the team sat quietly in the dark room. They could hear the footsteps of the beasts outside in the hallway and didn't want to attract any attention. With any luck, they'd be able to stay hidden until help arrived.

But luck was not on their side.

Suddenly, something (and "something" was certainly more apt in this case than "someone") began pounding against the steel door. At first, it amounted to nothing but noise, but after several minutes of continuous beating, the door that was designed to stop bullets began to give way.

Casey eyed the door stoically, even as Chuck and Sarah inched closer and closer to one another. Sweat began to form on Chuck's brow, and he looked over at his blonde companion. Their gazes seemed to say what they were incapable of voicing.

_If something happens, know that I love you. _

Their hands interwoven, Chuck and Sarah watched with panic and dread and worry on their faces — not for themselves but for one another — as the door was ripped from its hinges. The steel door – the only barrier between Team Bartowski and the Reavers – clattered to the ground, now just a useless bulletproof scrap. The scrape of metal-on-metal caused a shrill shriek to permeate the room. Sarah, Chuck, and Casey all did their best to put on a brave face, unwilling to show the enemy the fear that radiated from their bellies. Then Chuck swallowed the lump in his throat and chanced one more look at the woman next to him as the Reavers began to pour into the room.

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_A/N: You guys are awesome. Peace. _


	3. When Reavers Attack

_A/N: First, let me apologize to everyone for the wait. I was cursed with the dreaded Swine Flu over the weekend, and it really hampered my ability and will to write. Then yesterday, my hard drive crashed, and I lost everything. Luckily, I'd already sent this to be beta read, so it was salvaged. Speaking of the beat work, big thanks to **Verkisto** for all the hard work she put into this chapter. Without her, let's just say this was a wreck. And if you still think it's a wreck, I assure you, it's my fault. She did what she could. Any additional errors you find are just proof of my idiocy. Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy the final chapter, and please review. Thanks!

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**Chapter 3: When Reavers Attack**

**Aboard Serenity  
Just above Earth's atmosphere  
October 31, 2009**

"I don' like it," Jayne said gruffly.

"Somehow, that don't shock me," Mal answered.

"I hate to agree with the Neanderthal," Simon began, drawing a heated look from Jayne. "No offense," he added, to which Jayne merely grunted. "But as I was saying, I don't support this course of action, either."

"Still not shocked," Mal said, irritated. "Lucky you two have a place on my crew which don't exactly allow for order-makin' and the like. Fact is, I seem to recall havin' this same talk with both of you in the past."

The crew of Serenity had gathered in the galley to hear the details of the coming rescue. Despite the general uneasiness in the room, all of those gathered around the captain had remained silent, except for Jayne and Simon. It was no surprise to the captain that the only two being vocal about their reservations were River's brother and her ex-boyfriend. Simon was always trying to get River out of having to do Mal's bidding, and although their romantic relationship hadn't exactly worked, Jayne remained very protective of the young woman. Even after the captain's decree of "that's how it is," he could tell that the two dissenters were still not on board with his plan.

"Listen here. Little River says she can take care of them Reavers, and we all seen with our own eyes she can take care of 'em. Now, Doc, I respect you wantin' to keep your sister safe, I do, but are you tellin' me that whoever them folks are down on the ground waitin' on us to help ain't worth helpin'? Didn't you take some kind of oath or somethin'?" Mal asked.

Simon sighed. He knew River could take care of herself against a few Reavers. Hell, she could take care of herself against a lot of Reavers. Their confrontation on Mr. Universe's moon the previous year had proven that.

"Are you sure, mei-mei? You don't think this is some sort of Alliance trick?" the doctor asked, his gaze now completely focused on the youngest of Serenity's crew.

River stared off into space for a few moments, seemingly deep in thought. Of course, no one could ever be sure what it was she was thinking about when she got that particular look in her eye.

"Silly Simon," she said. "Trix are for kids." With that, the co-pilot of the ship then got up from her seat, ruffled her brother's hair affectionately, and left the room.

"An' that's the one yer takin' at her word?" Jayne asked gruffly.

Mal's eyes narrowed slightly, and his forehead creased as he seemed to think about the question. "She's got a point," he offered weakly.

"Which is…?"

Mal opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it. He racked his brain for some sort of witty comeback to throw at the muscle of the crew. He had nothing. "I ain't rightly sure," Mal admitted, wearing a bemused expression. Then he went to join River on the bridge.

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**NSA Complex  
Roswell, New Mexico  
October 31, 2009**

Casey and Sarah had already wasted two mags apiece firing at the intruding creatures, but every time one dropped, two more seemed to take its place. Ammo was running low, and with the Reavers between Team Bartowski, who had taken cover behind an overturned console, and the door, time seemed to be running out too.

Casey fired four more shots, managing to take down two additional attackers. He ejected the cartridge and took a look at what he had left: three rounds. Just enough to keep him and his partners from having to suffer whatever horrors the Reavers meant to inflict on them. The time to make the big decision had come all too soon.

"Walker, you got anything left?" he asked, worried.

"I got—" she began to answer, but her words were suddenly cut off and replaced by a scream.

The Reavers had managed during the invasion to completely surround the team's position. The two agents from their position in the center of the room were so engrossed in trying to fight off the monsters in front of them that they failed to realize a few had gotten around their defenses and managed to get behind them, and now two of them had grabbed Sarah. Her eyes widened and began to dart around trying to get a look at her captors, but they held her firmly in place despite her desperate, fear-filled thrashing. Casey had never seen his partner so scared, but he knew she was scared for good reason. The things that would likely be done to her in to coming moments were too horrible to even think about. He couldn't let those things happen, and he only hoped Chuck would understand in his last moments what had to be done. Casey extended his arm and locked the elbow so it wouldn't shake, sighted as carefully as he could, and aimed at the blonde right between her desperate and pleading eyes. His lips tightened into a straight line as his finger began to tighten into a squeeze on the trigger.

But before he could complete the grisly but necessary task that would save Sarah the horror and torment of mutilation at the hands of those beasts, Chuck bolted from his position behind the console with a speed Casey knew the nerd didn't usually possess. The moron had no doubt flashed up some kind of special skill and was going to try to fight the monsters.

Casey then mentally prepared himself to take _two_ kill shots, as he was sure it was just a matter of moments until both of his partners were being held by the Reavers. But then something happened that surprised the veteran NSA agent. Chuck was holding his own.

Chuck delivered a pair of quick punches to the monsters that were holding Sarah, freeing her from their grasp. The blonde was stunned, but only for a second, and she then quickly scurried back to their cover, taking a seat on the floor beside Casey.

Both agents watched as Chuck continued to land a flurry of kicks and punches on the creatures. None of the shots he delivered disabled them completely, but each strike knocked them back a couple of feet at a time. Sarah and Casey were both frighteningly low on ammunition and needed to save what they had if the time to fall on their swords came in spite of Chuck's efforts, so helping The Intersect in any way was out of the question. Their only hope was that Chuck could continue to fight the Reavers off until help arrived.

A Reaver charged at Chuck with a battleaxe. The rabid creature swung wildly, but Chuck easily ducked under the attempt, grabbing the axe just below the blade and twisting it from the hand of the monster. Now with a weapon at his disposal, Chuck began to mow down the Reavers. He buried the axe into the head of one beast and kicked another away as he wrenched the weapon from the skull of his kill.

After removing the axe, he swung it again, striking another Reaver in the chest. One came from behind Chuck, swinging a long blade at the nerd. Sidestepping the attack, he redirected the strike so it sliced into the head of yet another Reaver. He then swung his axe, killing the creature brandishing the sword giving Chuck now two weapons.

Sarah and Casey looked on with astonishment. They'd both seen on a number of occasions just what Chuck was capable of with Intersect 2.0, but even those performances had been weak in comparison to the masterful display of fighting the man who was sometimes known as Agent Carmichael was putting on now.

The Reavers' numbers were still great, but they were falling by the second. All their attention had been drawn to the lone human who could stand up to them, and all their effort was now focused on defeating him. Those efforts were quickly turning into a miserable failure.

Just as the noise of Chuck's battle against the beasts was decreasing, a new sound arose from the corridor outside. Sarah and Casey whipped their heads around to stare at the back of the door, their attention diverted by the loud ruckus that seemed to be taking place on the other side of the stout metal. Reavers had stopped pouring in, and some of the monsters already in the room were beginning to leave, though Casey and Sarah couldn't figure out why they would abandon their comrades.

They soon received their answer when a small girl, who by her looks couldn't have been older than twenty, came slicing her way through the Reavers from their rear in much the same fashion Chuck was still doing just in front of them.

Watching Chuck and this mystery girl carve up the Reavers with graceful precision was like watching poetry in motion. There seemed to be no wasted motion as every punch, every kick, and every swing of his weapons struck down an enemy and sometimes two. And there was no awkward stumbling as there sometimes was with Chuck's fighting. It was like watching a dance. A very lethal dance. Sarah had long ago come to the conclusion that she was in love with Chuck Bartowski, but she'd never been _more_ attracted to him than she was in that moment as she watched him gracefully mow down their attackers.

Casey, for his part, couldn't take his eyes from their female rescuer. The girl's clothes were not typical dress for a young American female. They were robe-like in nature and, he noticed fleetingly, tattered and dirty. How much of that was from the battle she'd obviously already faced and how much of that was just the clothes she wore he wasn't sure, but there was something oddly alluring about a woman that could fight like _that_.

The two warriors continued their assault on the beasts. Soon, only one Reaver remained standing. Chuck swung his sword low, and the girl swung her axe high. Chuck's blow neatly sliced the creature's legs from its body as the girl's strike decapitated the monster, its head spinning in the air like a basketball.

Finally, there was nothing left standing between Chuck and the girl. They faced off, staring at one another, each daring the other to make a move.

"Chuck!" Sarah shouted.

"River!" came a shout from behind the girl.

Both warriors dropped their weapons and looked around themselves as if suddenly waking from a trance.

_The End.  
Happy Halloween! =)_

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_A/N: You guys are awesome. Peace. _


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